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Star cast: Samir Aftab, Jahan Bloch, Aditya Singh Rajput, Harsh Rajput, Govind Namdeo, Mukesh Tiwari, Farida Jalal, Aman Verma.
Plot: Jahan joins forces with her three friends – Samir, Aditya and Harsh – to continue the crusade of her late father (Nana Patekar of Krantiveer) to rid the society of all evils.
What’s Good: Hardly anything!
What’s Bad: The repetitive story, the convenient screenplay, the loud acting.
Verdict: Krantiveer – The Revolution can indeed get a revolution if producers stopped making such dated films today after watching its box-office collections.
Loo break: Anytime! You won’t miss a thing.
White City Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Krantiveer – The Revolution is a sequel to Krantiveer (1994). Roshni (newfind Jahan Bloch) is the daughter of Pratap Narayan Tilak (Nana Patekar of Krantiveer) and she has inherited his courage, spirited language and indomitable style. She works as a reporter in a television channel. She wants to rid the society of evils like corruption, anarchy and terrorism. For this, she enlists the support of her friends, Vishal (Samir Aftab), Goldie (Aditya Singh Rajput) and Uday (Harsh Rajput). Vishal is the son of late police officer Veer Singh Rathod (Ashok Samarth) who was given a death sentence by a judge (Darshan Jariwala). Goldie is the son of an unscrupulous builder (Raj Premi) while Uday is the son of the chief minister, Patankar (Govind Namdeo). A chance interview of the judge opens a can of worms for Vishal when the judge tells the interviewee, Roshni, that of all the death sentences pronounced by him, the only sentence he regretted was that of Veer Singh Rathod because he considered it to be an erroneous order. Vishal forces his grandfather (Ranjeet) to tell him the true story about his father’s death. It turns out that Veer Singh Rathod, a conscientious police officer, had been made a scapegoat and framed for the deaths of innocent people although politicians Patankar and Cheetah Singh (Mukesh Tiwari) were responsible for them. By the by, it also emerges that Roshni’s parents were murdered by Cheetah Singh’s brother, Chatur Singh Cheetah (Danny Denzongpa).
Roshni and her three friends now decide to expose Patankar and Cheetah Singh as also corrupt businessmen like Goldie’s builder-father. Even while they are on the job, gathering evidence against them, riots break out in Bombay city which have a striking resemblance to the actual riots of November 26, 2008. Chief minister Patankar orders the killing of some senior police officers in the riots. How Roshni and her group expose the evil doers is what the climax is all about.
The story, penned by Mehul Kumar, is too simplistic to be true. Mehul Kumar’s screenplay is one of complete convenience and, therefore, looks rather unbelievable. The likeness of the riots in the drama to the riots of November 2008 is too much for the audience to take because fact has been sought to be married with fiction. In fact, the drama takes a strange turn when the riots break out and this angle seems to be an odd appendage in the drama.
The interview with the judge is another abrupt addition as it springs up from nowhere. Considering that the entire back story of Vishal’s late father is revealed due to the utterances of the judge, the writer should have taken far more care to weave the interview smoothly into the screenplay. Uday being the son of the chief minister and Goldie, of a corrupt builder, give the impression that Mehul Kumar seems to be too heavily inspired by Rang De Basanti but, unfortunately for him, the characters of that film are still fresh in the minds of the audience.
Coming to the characters. Save for Roshni, the other crusaders, especially Goldie and Uday, do precious little to expose the wrong doers. Another drawback is that Roshni seems less of a firebrand fighter and more a nagging young adult because she goes on monotonously about corruption, whatever the occasion and situation. Dialogues (by Amit Khan and Mehul Kumar) are ordinary at most places and fiery at some places only. Samir Aftab is too soft for his role. He does an ordinary job. Jahan Bloch makes an average debut and although she delivers her dialogues with gusto, she goes on and on in a monotonous tone. Besides, Nana Patekar shouting at the top of his voice may have worked wonderfully well in Krantiveer but one can’t expect Jahan’s screaming to go down well with the auidence. Aditya Singh Rajput is ordinary. Harsh Rajput gets very limited scope and fails to impress. A word here about pronunciation of English words: Jahan and Harsh Rajput do so very funnily (eg. ‘seempal’ instead of ‘simple’ and ‘tweest’ instead of ‘twist’). Farida Jalal fills the bill in an inconsequential role. Govind Namdeo is loud but effective. Mukesh Tiwari does a routine job. Ranjeet hardly impresses. Aman Varma is alright. Hiten Paintal passes muster. Ashok Samarth is sincere. Raj Premi, Anil Nagrath, Darshan Jariwala, Suhasini Mulay and Avtar Gill (the last three in special appearances) lend ordinary support.
Mehul Kumar’s direction is not of the kind which would appeal to modern-day viewers. Like his script, even his narrative style looks dated. Otherwise, there is no problem in his direction per se. Sachin-Jigar’s music is functional. The theme song and the item song have some appeal. Song picturisations (Chinni Prakash) are ordinary. Fuwad Khan’s camerawork is functional. Editing (by Samar Singh) is okay. Andalib Pathan’s action scenes are not half as exciting as they should’ve been.
On the whole, Krantiveer – The Revolution will prove to be a box-office dud.
By Komal Nahta
